SYNOPSIS:
Scoop is the new romantic comedy from writer/director Woody
Allen, and is his second consecutive film to be set and shot
in London (following Match Point).
Sondra
(Scarlett Johansson) is an American journalism student visiting
friends in London. During a mysterious encounter, Sondra receives
a hot tip on the identity of "the Tarot Card Killer"
at large in London and decides to pursue the scoop of a lifetime.
Sondra immediately starts chasing the big story which leads
her right to handsome British aristocrat Peter (Hugh Jackman).
Soon, Sondra finds that the romance of her life may well be
the dangerous scoop she's looking for.
MOVIE
REVIEW
When
Scoop first hit the theatres, it was extremely trendy (at
least among critics) to wreck the latest Woody Allen offering
and drag it, along with Match Point, through the proverbial
mud. While I am not a connoisseur of Woody Allen’s earlier
movies, I do not believe in holding a director to his previous
works – else who would watch Zhang Yimou’s Riding
Along for Thousands of Miles after the stinking House of Flying
Daggers? When it is in vogue to criticize, one tends to turn
away from an old man’s self-deprecatory paean to the
easy-going popcorn audience member who just wants to spend
a happy afternoon.
Enjoyable
and easy-going is what this movie is about. Scarlett Johansson
is positively radiant as the geeky journalism student and
probably carried about half of the movie on those lovely…
shoulders. Hugh Jackman provides eye candy for the ladies
as an aristocrat, while Woody Allen pops up occasionally and
out-talks and out-fumbles everyone else. In tandem, the trio
provided enough distractions along the way to cover for man-sized
plot loopholes.
So
what if Woody Allen is a poor scene-stealer and panned narcissist
who just won’t go away? Where reputations ring hollow
in both fiction and reality and when poison pens abound hunting
for spoils, it takes a big heart to hold the satirical mirror
on oneself and amuse others.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
No features.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
Great visual transfer and a choice of Dolby Digital 2.0 or
5.1.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD
RATING :
Review
by Lim Mun Pong
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